Worth the Extra Work
by HecateA
Summary: Alice and Frank have no idea why they're incapable of finishing this training drill—but maybe all that extra time spent cleaning at Mad-Eye's insistence will help them find answers. Oneshot. Written for Romance Awareness Day 13: Your soulmate is the only person who can't hurt you.


**Author's Note: **Quick disclaimer so that nobody comes at me in the reviews: I got halfway through this fic before figuring out that 'Fawley' is technically Alice's middle name, but didn't feel like editing back. Written for the 31 Days of Soulmate!AU Day 13: Your soulmate is the only person who can't hurt you.

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Warnings: **NA

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**Stacked with: **MC4A; Shipping Wars; Hogwarts; Ray of Blades

**Individual Challenge(s): **Gryffindor MC; Hufflepuff MC; Seeds; Minerva's Migraine; Old Shoes; Themes & Things A (Love); Themes & Things B (Surprise); Themes & Things C (Mirror); Ethnic & Present; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux

**Representation(s): **Auror training; Soulmate!AU

**Bonus(es): **In the Trench; Surprise!; Second Verse (Bee Haven); Chorus (Middle Name)

**Tertiary Bonus Challenge(s):**

**Word Count: **743

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**Worth the Extra Work**

"Enough, enough!" Mad-Eye said.

Frank loosened from his defensive stance and Alice slowly stood from her crouching position, wiping the sweat off her brow. They both lowered their wands, but didn't take their eyes off of each other until Mad-Eye angrily called their names.

"Longbottom! Ng! What in the world is this?"

She turned to look towards the old Auror, who was angrily tapping his staff to the training room floor.

"How simple was this exercise?" Mad-Eye barked at them. "Tag each other with spikes. Was I really asking that much out of the Minister's hand-picked elite fighters?"

"I…" Alice didn't know what to respond. She only knew not to look away from Mad-Eye or else she'd encounter the old dog's wrath with even more of a bite to it. She did manage to look over at the other new recruit from the corner of her eyes and look him over again. His hair was a smooth champagne blonde, and there was something statue-like about his face. His eyes were a surprisingly clear blue, and she found herself getting distracted counting the freckles on his cheeks and nose.

"I was doing my best, sir," Frank said evenly. "Ng is just a very skilled dueler."

"Are you trying to tell me that you aren't?" Mad-Eye said.

"No, he was very good," Alice spoke up. "He picked up on my weak points fairly early on in our duel sir, I'm honestly surprised that he didn't manage to get me…"

"As am I," Mad-Eye grumbled.

"It was like my spells couldn't hit him, sir," Alice said. As soon as she said it, she blushed, thinking of how ridiculous it was. She heard some of the older, gruffer Aurors who had been watching Mad-Eye break them in sneer.

"It was like that for me too," Frank said, jumping in. She wondered if this weird quirk of magic really was true for him too, or if he was just jumping in to be nice.

He was giving them a dirty glare with both of his eyes. "You will learn that if you want to last in this department, you'll have to try harder and be a bit less polite. Everyone, hit the ground and give me twenty. Ng and Longbottom, you're giving me fifty each and you'll be staying after hours to clean up this pig sty. By hand."

* * *

"I was being serious," Alice said.

Frank looked up, quizzically.

"I wasn't being nice," Alice said, putting down the soapy sponge she'd been disinfecting the training mattresses with. "My spells literally weren't landing."

"I know," he said. "I believe you, Auror Ng. I felt it too."

It was the first thing she'd said to him, and now it would have been awkward to go back to absolute quietude.

"You can call me Alice," she said.

"Cool," he said with a grin. "Call me Frank."

She nodded. And just as she reached for her wand, he reached for his, and they fired at each other simultaneously. She shot out an _Expelliarmus _while he called for a _Stupefy. _Both of the spells ricocheted away from their bodies.

Alice frowned and then fired another spell towards the mirror on the wall. It shattered immediately and she frowned. With a quick gesture of his wand, Frank put the mirror back together—pieces of glass flying back towards one another and fixing themselves to the walls again. The fissures across the cracked surface disappeared.

"Well," Frank said. "The magic's not the problem."

"No," Alice agreed. She smiled. "No it is not… we better finish up before Mad-Eye comes back and yells at us to finish, but… but I think a cup of coffee is in order."

* * *

Alice happily held Frank's arm as he led her through the crowd, to the corner of the hall where the old man was doing his best to look grumpy and drink alone.

"Sir," Alice said.

"Yeah," Mad-Eye grunted. "You look lovely."

"She does," Frank agreed, turning back to look at her with a smile. She smiled back and smoothed down the skirt of her white dress, the lace of her long sleeves catching her eye as she did.

"Well thank you," Alice said.

"Shouldn't you two be dancing?" Mad-Eye suggested.

"Most likely," Frank acknowledged. "But we did want to thank you personally for making this day possible."

Mad-Eye arched an eyebrow. His magical eye started whizing around at random.

"How so?" he asked.

"All those extra push-ups," Alice smiled.


End file.
